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Organic Agriculture & Soils

Healthy soils are key to biodiversity, food security and play a fundamental role in fighting climate change. Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather thanthe use of inputs with adverse effects.

Soils are a non-renewable resource on which 95% of our food supply depends. Short-sighted chemical fertilizer applications in conventional farming are depleting soils at an alarming rate. Instead of using potent chemicals that degrade soil, organic farmers continuously give back to the soil, maintaining soil health and fertility for future generations.

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE sustain healthy soils by:

Improving soil fertility by maintaining and building a fertile living soil through applictaion of frequent organic matter inputs in the form of green manures, compost and farmyard manure and by adopting cover crops and crop rotations and intercropping.

integrating crops and animals, reducing overgrazing and facilitate nutrient recycling on the farm.

Improving water infiltration and retention capacity through high levels of organic matter and permanent soil cover, such as cover crops or mulch, which substantially reduce the amount of water needed for irrigation.

SOIL and climate change

Carbon-rich soils are like sponges absorbing water during floods and releasing it during drought. Yet when soils are damaged, they release CO2. Organic farming puts carbon back into soils by keeping them covered with plants, increasing crop diversity, composting and carefully planned grazing.

We can heal the soil by transitioning to organic agriculture, ending their chemical-induced depletion and strengthening their potential as carbon-consuming sinks. If we increase by just 0.4% a year the quantity of carbon stored in soils, we can halt the annual increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, which is a major contributor to climate change! Click on the image to learn more.